I don't really like dealing with banks but we need them. And we all have a choice when we sign on that dotted line! Now when the banker steels from you thats BS! Madoff should of went to work for the government, not prison. Should of been made to help catch the rest of the fraud going on in the country, because the government couldn't catch it until it was too late(and so big how could you miss it), and once they did catch it then never put any of the other top dog banking crooks in prison, and that is total BS. IMO﻿

+Skip Meyer I disagree that we need bankers... depending on your definition of "banker". Credit unions perform the same functions as banks but have fewer motivations to commit the sort of acts that have caused banks to act badly in recent years. Because the customers are actually members and have control over how a credit union is managed, credit unions are less likely to make stupid decisions that end up harming society and their own customers.﻿

+Miguel Abele Actually, being continually in debt will. Credit rating isn't really a measure of how well you're able to pay off your debts, but how much money creditors can expect to get out of you. My mom recently paid off the mortgage on her home, and her credit rating plummeted because she no longer had that debt. One of my friends canceled a credit card he was no longer using, and his credit score dropped. When he asked about it, he was told that whenever you cancel a credit card, the assumption is that you're unable to pay your bills -- even if you pay off the card before you cancel the account.﻿

Also, be sure when you pay your credit card bills, don't pay off the full amount of what you owe. My grandfather did this for a few months, and the credit card company (AmEx, I believe) dropped his account because they weren't making any money (interest) on it. As a result of his credit card being cancelled, his credit score took a hit. All because he was trying to be fiscally responsible with the card. Just leave them a little in the account to keep them happy.﻿

I have to say that not all bankers are created equal. I've worked with a couple who were ethical. But, I get what the post is saying.

Christopher Gold, I've always paid my Visa and Discover off in full. Every month, for over a decade. Neither has dropped me, and I get cash back on both accounts. I also have free checking through the same financial institution that I have the Visa card through. In my opinion, it's best to shop around and make yourself financially happy instead of paying interest to keep a credit card company happy.﻿

This is absurd. Part of the reason that the poor in Africa are still poor is because they can't borrow money. They can't borrow money because they don't have property rights, so they can't use property as a collateral. If the can borrow money, it is through a bank. Despite all of the bad things that banks have done lately, they are necessary to the modern economy and they do a lot of good things by expanding the money supply. ﻿

+Matt Burns, I had read it, I just didn't respond. I have nothing against credit unions, but I don't think that they can work on a large scale. If they did, then wouldn't they be more widespread? I don't think that they can satisfy the banking needs of hedge funds and corporate customers the way that JP Morgan can. Because credit unions aren't usually for-profit corporations, there are practical limits on their size, and that limits the functions that they can perform. Also, they don't have the desire for profit, so there is little reason for them to go into impoverished places to loan money. I think that they can be a solution to commercial banking for many people in developed nations but there is still a place for the enormous corporate banks. ﻿

http://goo.gl/LiHn6i There's a push to join several national cooperative banks in Africa into an Africa-wide cooperative bank. The main difference between a cooperative bank and a credit union is that a credit union generally has specific membership requirements (like working for a certain company or living in a certain area).

+David Cantwell "Non-profit" doesn't mean "no money". The only difference between a non-profit organization and a for-profit business is that the NPO puts any surplus revenue back into their activities rather than profiding that money as profit to shareholders.﻿